It is difficult to know if a company is favorable for a project before starting the actual job and often, contractors have a bad experience at the moment of construction, because of not knowing how to differentiate a good company from a bad one.
This time we’ll leave you the three main red flags that you must take into account before hiring subcontractors.
1. When you request a bid for the project and they send you a very cheap estimate. Although this may look tempting, in most cases it could be detrimental to the project, because you may be cutting back on materials or important labor just to save some additional expenses. It is extremely tempting to go for the lowest number but remember it might end up taking you more time and resources down the line.
2. The response time is very slow or nonexistent. If you requested a bid and you waited several days for a response this is already a bad sign. It should be a very fluid two-way communication.
3. Not specifying a list of suppliers. Most often than not a subcontractor will not be very clear on the quality of materials they will use for the project and this is sometimes to be able to come down on the numbers and have the lowest estimate possible for approval. When the company offers you a list of suppliers and you don’t know any of them or you don’t get enough information, the best thing to do is to decline the offer because they might not be the best for the Project.
Bonus: Bidders not asking questions. When vague documents leave details open to speculation, subcontractors might skip an opportunity to clarify information with the intent to keep the costs down, but by the time the contractor wants to upgrade materials or methods, a change order will be coming their way. So submitting RFIs (requests for information) is a very good sign they’re actively looking into your documents to fully understand the scope of the project instead of putting the bare minimum into the bid.
You should take into account all points, and not be guided by extremely unreal offers.
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Email: contact@progressive-concretellc.com
Phone: 936-444-8356
LinkedIn: Progressive Concrete LLC
